Massachusetts teen accused of Facebook terror post freed

By Richard Valdmanis

BOSTON, June 7 A Massachusetts teenager jailed a
month ago for a Facebook post that suggested he could do
worse than the Boston Marathon bombers was released, a court
official said on Friday, after a grand jury refused to indict
him.

Cameron D'Ambrosio was arrested on May 1 and accused of
"communicating a terrorist threat." The 18-year-old aspiring
rapper from Methuen, 30 miles (50 km) north of Boston, posted
lyrics online that included the words "a boston bombinb wait
till u see the shit I do."

The case sparked a viral online effort by rights activists
to have him freed, and demonstrated the growing tension between
law enforcement and free speech proponents after a spate of
terror and school-violence incidents across the country.

Lawrence District Court Judge Lynn Rooney issued an order on
Thursday to release D'Ambrosio after a grand jury chose not to
indict, the court clerk's office said. An official at the county
prosecutor's office was not available to comment.

"While today is a major victory for Cam, the chilling effect
that this case has already had on free speech cannot be undone,"
said Evan Greer, of Boston's Center for Rights and Fight For The
Future, which organized an online petition supporting D'Ambrosio
that gathered 90,000 signatures.

Police had arrested D'Ambrosio after fellow students at
Methuen High School alerted them of his Facebook posts. If
D'Ambrosio had been convicted of the terrorism charge, he would
have faced as many as 20 years in prison.

The case came weeks after twin bombs exploded at the finish
line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people
and injuring 264. Investigators said the attack was the work of
two brothers of Chechen descent.

Some lawmakers have criticized the FBI's handling of the
case, given that the older of the brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev,
had been on a U.S. master list of potential terrorism suspects.
Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police days after the
bombing and his younger brother Dzhokhar was wounded after a
manhunt and is in prison for the crime.

Police are also under pressure to avoid a repeat of recent
school shootings, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last year in which 20 students
and six school staff were killed.

"Law enforcement wants to preempt acts of violence before
they occur," said Shirin Sinnar, assistant professor of law at
Stanford University Law School. "The risk is that you sweep in
people who had no intent to cause a crime."

LIMA, Dec 9 An indigenous federation opposed to
a recently approved plan for oil drilling in the Peruvian Amazon
said on Friday that native communities will physically block any
attempt by oil companies to operate on their lands.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: